blessed.

Sunday morning, the entire group of "Wieners" began our day at the Augustinerkirche for High mass. This is a parish church located next to the Hofburg, the winter palace of the Habsburg dynasty in Vienna. The Augustinerkirche is known to host high quality sacred music concerts, particularly for its weekly Sunday High mass with full orchestra and choir. The musical compositions for yesterday's service were all works by Puccini. I've never been to a church and heard such melodic and professional singing. Honestly, it was hard for me to concentrate during the service, considering I couldn't understand a word that was being spoken. A 4'2" (I kid you not) elderly Viennese lady sat next to me. Although she didn't speak any English, she asked where I was from in German, and I understood her/knew how to respond. It was pretty exciting! Because I couldn't concentrate very well in church, I began reading through some of the Psalms, most notably Psalm 16. I would copy/paste it onto my blog, but I challenge you to read it on your own time. You won't be disappointed. After mass, 10 or so of us went to eat lunch at one of our favorite local Italian restaurants: Venezia. I should probably not eat Italian food anymore this week, considering in just a few days we will be in Italy where I will be consuming 10x more carbs than any normal human being. After lunch, Kat and I came back to the hotel to do some cleaning, toe-clipping and polishing, etc. Then, off to Cafe Hawelka for the first time! Chris Shappley highly recommended this coffeeshop to me (he came 3 years ago with the Lipscomb program). Great choice; this cafe is located just a few minutes from Stephansplatz. The atmosphere has a very bohemian/urban feel to it with indoor and outdoor seating. Relaxing and cozy. Kat and I both ordered deliciously rich hot chocolate...small cup for 3.50 euro...pretty pricey, but well worth the money. We stayed there for a little over an hour working on homework, presentations, and the like. I am doing my second informal presentation tomorrow on Martin Luther and his influence during the Renaissance. I love research projects because I profit so much from working on them! Afterwards, we met up with Kirk and took him to McDonald's (ridiculous, right?) because he was feeling slightly homesick and thus, craving all that those famous golden arches have to offer. Then, back to the hotel for a Sunday night devotional/communion/fellowship time in the Horton's room. After this, I had my first pilates experience with Sarah, Rachel, and Cari. I've never thought highly of pilates or yoga because I didn't think it would produce results, but I thoroughly enjoyed my first go at it. Although no cardio is involved, pilates is still effective. I ended my Sunday night with a few Skype phone calls with friends back home. I miss everyone!

Today is Monday, aka the hardest day of the week for me to wake up happily and on time. Classes today went well. We have quite a lot of work/tests to accomplish this week before we leave for ITALY! Kebab sandwich today at the Naschmarkt for lunch (so good). Then, Cari, Sarah, and I went to the train station with Mrs. Swann in hopes of figuring out the train reservations we will need for our fall break. Fall Break will most likely be one of the most memorable experiences from this semester because we will be off on our own with no German expert to rely on (aka Mrs. Swann). I'm excited to see how everything plays out. Afterwards, we went back to the Austria-American Institute (where we have our classes) to start my first day of voice lessons with Sarah. Okay, it's not quite that formal, but Sarah, being a music minor at Lipscomb and a beautiful-sounding soprano,  has encouraged me to delve into the art of singing. I'm definitely not a good singer by any means, but with her help, I am striving for drastic improvement throughout this semester. Maybe even so much so that I am inspired to take voice lessons once I return to America! I'm excited about learning technique and voice control. We met everyone back at the hotel before heading out to Oberlaa park, a beautiful botanical gardens type park located just outside the city. Because I was so busy snapping pictures of the gorgeous flowers and landscaping, I got separated from the group and ended up taking the bus back towards home by myself an hour or so after. Instead of getting off where I knew I needed to, I decided to stay on the bus for a few more stops, intentionally trying to get lost in the city. I know this sounds dangerous, but it was very enjoyable and I was able to have some good quality time by myself, while I listened/sung to Hillsong as I walked down the streets of Vienna. It was much needed. Met up with Kat and Cari for dinner at La Favorita, where we got to spend time with one of our favorite locals, Mutzi, our waiter. He is 27 and a premed student at a local university. He speaks good English and we have so much fun hanging out with him whenever we eat at his restaurant! After a delicious dinner and good conversation, we arrived back at the hotel, and I was able to skype with Megan for a few minutes! Miss her. Then, off to the nightly routine of pilates before heading back upstairs to the room to finish up some homework. I'm exhausted...time for bed!!